Ukraine’s allies turn away from arms donation

• According to a report, Ukraine’s allies are no longer focused on donating weapons but on fixing what already exists.
• This change in strategy reflects the recognition that the war should continue for some time.

The West’s focus on supporting Ukraine’s war effort has shifted from donating more weapons to repairing and maintaining what it already has, according to a report.

The shift in strategy reflects recognition that the war is expected to continue for some time, a senior Pentagon procurement official said. policy.

“We’re setting up repair facilities in Europe, we’re translating training and repair manuals, we need to do a lot more together, so there’s going to be more focus on that” by partner nations, Pentagon acquisition and support chief William LaPlante said.

Since Ukraine launched its counter-offensive to retake occupied territory from Russia, some of its equipment donated by the West, such as USA-made Bradley Fighting Vehicles And German Leopard tanks, has been lost or damaged.

Russian defense lines proved more difficult to penetrate than expected, and Ukrainian forces ran into dense minefields.

But hundreds of rugged armored vehicles donated by the West have been seen as life-saving by Ukrainian soldiers, who say the vehicles protect them and minimize injuries, for several reports

If possible to repair, get these vehicles repaired and put back into action is a high priority, according to Politico.

The Times of London visited a secret repair shop near the front line where they saw evidence of work on armored vehicles supplied by the West to return to battle, including vehicles that had been directly hit by a tank but were only lightly damaged.

“To be honest, the soldiers are all surprised at how well these vehicles can withstand fire,” said Serhii Ivanov, a lieutenant overseeing the repair of a British-built Wolfhound armored vehicle.

“They really save lives. After a few battles in one of them, no one wants to go back to the old Soviet BTR or anything like that. In comparison, it’s a coffin, 100% chance of dying,” he told The Times.

US-made armored mine-fighting vehicles have also been saluted by the Ukrainian troupes as being “almost indestructible”.

A 22-nation task force led by the United States, Poland and the United Kingdom is working to keep billions of dollars worth of equipment already in Ukraine so they can continue their counteroffensive.

The group coordinates repair facilities and has helped Ukraine set up a supply support effort to help track high-demand spare parts.

Since the start of the war, dozens of countries have pledged to send billions of dollars worth of equipment to Ukraine. The diversity of equipment from multiple supply lines poses challenges to Kyiv, Politico noted.

Equipment readiness rates have also been a concern for Ukraine, as they mostly use decades-old Russian equipment or weapons that are still relatively new to them.

Some of the equipment sent to Ukraine by its Western allies needs repair, and most serious repair work needs to be done in places like Poland or the Czech Republic.

By comparison, Russia has much larger stockpiles of equipment from which it has been able to continue to draw.

Despite the challenges, Ukraine’s allies have managed to establish a repair infrastructure over the past year, LaPlante told Politico, and teams on the ground are able “to get that information instantly, and then we find the fix and make it work.”

“And I really want to give credit to the Ukrainians, they are the ones doing it,” he said. “But we make sure they have everything they need. And if the parts have to come from a country halfway around the world, we make sure we get them to them. So sustainment is actually the bulk of the work going on right now.”